'The Movement' screens in Silverthorne tonight

Special to the Daily/Gary Nate
Monoski pioneer Jim Martinson launches off a jump in Utah. Martinson is one of three Paralympic gold medalists featured in 'The Movement,' showing at the Silverthorne Pavilion tonight.

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Team Summit and Adaptive Adventures join forces to host a screening of "The Movement: One Man Joins an Uprising," tonight at the Silverthorne Pavilion.

Produced and co-directed by Kurt Miller of Boulder, the film follows five disabled athletes who rediscover freedom through skiing. Robert Redford and Miller's father - the renowned filmmaker Warren Miller - narrate the 41-minute movie, which was among 64 entries in the short film competition at the 2012 Sundance film festival based in Park City, Utah.

"This is the story of movement," Redford says in the film. "It's about finding that turning point when physical disability is no longer a limitation but a part of your character."

The film then traces the story of Rick Finkelstein, a Hollywood executive paralyzed from the waist down after a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in 2004, who returns to skiing after years away from the sport.

The documentary features four other disabled athletes: Chris Waddell, recipient of more than 20 Paralympic and World Cup medals; Mike May, who earned a world record for speed skiing by a blind person; Jim Martinson, U.S. Ski Team Paralympic gold medalist and the first wheelchair winner of the Boston Marathon; and Traci Taylor, who was born premature with the rare congenital disorder, sacral agenesis, and malformation of the heart, lungs, kidneys and legs who went on to learn to ski and work with students with disabilities.

Team Summit, which trains youth athletes in alpine racing, snowboarding and freeskiing, added an adaptive component last year for athletes looking to compete. Joined by coach Mau Thompson of Adaptive Adventures, the group delivers an inclusive program where disabled athletes train full time alongside able-bodied peers.

"It's really fun because they both learn from each other," said spokesperson Debbie Ware, who indicated that the experience has been a perspective-shifter for the able-bodied athletes in particular.

Tonight's screening helps spread awareness while raising funds for the adaptive program. There will be a question-and-answer session following the film with Adaptive Adventures co-founder Matt Feeney, who appears in the film.